Everything You Need to Know About Dogs!

06/05/2009

Patrick's Journey week one

Patrick has been here nearly a week.

His primary issue is an overriding anxiety that inhibits him
from learning or relaxing. Until I reduce the anxiety we won’t make much
progress. I have a confession to make, this has taken me by surprise, the extent of the problem. I underestimated what we were in for, as did Patrick's owner, because at home Patrick is a happy dog. What neither of us realized was how anxious Patrick really is away from his routine and structure.

Some clues when Patrick-or any dog-is stressed:

Short, fast nervous panting

Standing stiffly, with an overly alert posture

Looking and listening in a hyper sort of way

Not making eye contact, avoiding eye contact

Not taking food treats, even particularly yummy ones

Stress makes learning difficult if not impossible. If a dog
won’t take a food treat, it makes using food as a reward impossible and makes
progress very, very slow. I talk to my friend Michelle and she
reminds me of that very point.

“He has to learn how
to be food motivated, Marianne," she reminds me.

She suggests cutting back on his regular meal and using
something delicious to get him food motivated. A good idea that I will try.

One thing I do know, Patrick hates even the suspicion he’s going to be made to do something. If he
anticipates pressure, he tightens his whole body, gets stiff, pants, and looks
away in another direction. As a friend once said, once the missile has left the
silo, forget it. In other words, once the stress kicks in I have to find a different way, especially taking the pressure off.

There are behaviors I do not want to reinforce, like running
away or avoiding me when I want to bring him in, so for now Patrick is on a leash or
long line. I simply pick it up, ask him to sit, and bring him in.

Sitting is a big deal. Sitting is asking for compliance. It
is asking the dog to defer to me, and see me in the picture. I suspect he
is accustomed to dashing through the door to go in and out, and his owner
confirms this, but now Patrick must sit before going in or out. Privileges come
by deferring to me. It’s a whole new life for him.

We spent a few days with me “showing him how to sit.” Which
is silly, Patrick knows how to sit, he just didn’t know to do it with the word.
I experiment; I can't lure him into a sit, so I gently tuck his bottom
underneath him, or tap behind his knee to buckle his leg so he had to sit, or
even a small tug on the leash until he responds. These methods are all called
“compulsion” and it's a bit of a confession to say that I tried them, because I want to get away from them as quickly as possible. Patrick
is not going to learn how to learn as long as I am doing the sitting for him.

Compliance

Why is compliance so important, anyway? What compliance is
not is bending Patrick to my will. It is simply asking him to defer to me.
Although I see moments of a happy Patrick-and a sweet dog-I do not see him
deferring to me. I’m simply not in the picture for him. Perhaps his anxiety
level is too high, or perhaps he has never learned to defer to humans.
Structure is good for dogs, but it’s like giving a kid responsibility, and by
succeeding he builds confidence, same thing.

For example, coming out of a crate. One way is to reach in
and pull him out. Another way is to open the crate and let him dash out. A
third way is to open the crate, ask him to come out, he responds, ask him to
sit, he sits, put a leash on, and then tell him, “OK” as a signal he can get up
and go. The first way he learns absolutely nothing, although it might save time. The second way he learns he
is in control, no deference to humans. The third way he learns to defer to me.

It’s the same with going out the door-- first way open door,
dog dashes out. Second way, call dog to door, ask dog to sit, dog sits until
door is open and you tell him “OK” signaling it’s ok to go out the door. Now
dog is deferring to human, can’t go out unless he complies, he is learning that
he gets what he wants by complying, and most importantly the human is in the
picture.

Once Patrick learns to comply, he will stop worrying. Once
he starts to take food, he will learn more quickly. Any kind of compulsion,
(forcing, making, or pushing too hard) is not teaching him how to learn on his
own at the least, or it will shut him down at the worst.

So now dinner comes directly from me. In the course of the
day, as Patrick complies, he gets part of his dinner—yummy chicken, which he
likes. He earns his meals.

We had a breakthrough this morning. Patrick’s crate is in
the kitchen, the door is open, and he is on a leash. I call him out, in front
of the crate, and sit on a chair nearby. I ask him to sit. I’ve decided he must
figure out all on his own what I am asking for-no pushing, making, or arranging
him into a sit. We wait. One minute, two minutes and then, he sits all on his
own. I praise him enthusiastically and give him a piece of chicken. We do this
a few times more, and each time he sits it takes a few seconds less than the last. But
it is a breakthrough because now Patrick understands that I will wait until he
complies, that he must comply, he will be rewarded, and that he can figure
it out all on his own. Today Patrick is taking food from me and figuring out
that he can sit. Hooray!

2 Comments

marianne-am finding this very interesting and informative in my journey with Gracie. Your style is very understandable and makes my little brain work and understand how important compliance is. Will use some of your techniques - Thanks